


a swift-footed achilles

by prouvairing



Series: Demigod AU [5]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Demigods, Alternate Universe - Percy Jackson Fusion, Gen, Girls Kicking Mythological Ass
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-12
Updated: 2013-09-12
Packaged: 2017-12-26 10:08:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/964707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prouvairing/pseuds/prouvairing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If the boys didn't keep getting into trouble, they wouldn't have to walk through miles of dusty, monster-ridden Labyrinth to get to them. At least, they have an Oracle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a swift-footed achilles

**Author's Note:**

> This is sooooooo late. It was written _ages_ ago, but I kept forgetting to post, or wanting to fiddle with it. It better get the hell out of my PC now though.  
>  If it didn't show, I have a thing for the girls bonding and kicking ass <3

The path shimmers bright and clear for Eponine, a shining thread of Ariadne to her Sighted eyes. She follows the twists and turns of the Labyrinth with sure step, Cosette trailing close behind her. In contrast, her stride is nervous, and her eyes dart around to check for threats, knuckles white around the hilt of her knife.

“You’re absolutely sure?” Cosette asks again. She, of course, is blind to the thread on the floor. Ichor in your blood will do that to you.

“Gods, Cosette, yes I’m sure,” Eponine answers, mildly irritated. Don’t get her wrong: the Labyrinth is certainly creepy, and the only reason why she isn’t freaking out is that she has a demigod armed to her teeth to escort her. Plus, she knows where they’re going, and that gives her a heart-deep, calm surety. “It’s clear as day, I swear. If you were mortal, you’d see it too.”

Cosette nods and her blonde ponytail swishes with her every step. It’s Hades-hot, down in this section of the Labyrinth, and Eponine has pinned her own dark hair up. Yet both girls are sweating, and Cosette has raked up the short sleeves of her Camp tee, showing off the rainbow tattoo that wraps around her bicep, symbol of her mother. Eponine, who has met Cosette’s overbearing adoptive father, wonders how she even got away with it. 

Probably with smiles and batting eyelashes, and that absolutely sinful pout. Which, accidentally, is in display right now.

“Don’t worry, princess,” says Eponine, patting her arm. “We’ll get your boyfriend home alright.” The words are only slightly bitter in her mouth. The sting of it has worn off with time.

Cosette gives her a half-hearted smile, then sighs. “Figures that the boys would get themselves kidnapped by Cyclopes. This is why you don’t go on quests with more than three people.”

“No,” Eponine corrects her. “This is why you don’t go on quests with your significant other.”

“Yes, well,” Cosette replies. “It was your prophecy that mentioned doves and rainbows. There was very little leeway.”

“Of all the Aphrodite kids, you could have picked anyone but Marius.”

“Why would I pick anyone but Marius, though?”

Eponine nods, because it is a lost cause. “Point taken.”

And besides, their banter is cut short, as the floor of the Labyrinth shakes and a bellow rises from the darkness ahead. Fine dust and cobwebs rain down from the ceiling, as the very walls tremble.

Eponine shakes her head to get the debris out of her hair. “Awesome,” she mutters. “I’d _just_ washed it.”

Cosette has her serious demigod-face on – it’s frankly creepy, when they do that, drop in that fiery battle-mode and suddenly look like actual children of the gods – and motions for Eponine to step aside.

“Get behind me,” she says evenly. Eponine doesn’t need to be told twice – she’s smart, thank you, and would like to stay alive (although, granted, she’s pretty sure the spirit of Delphi would protect her, should Cosette fail).

But fighting isn’t her role in this crazy myth that is their lives: she spits green smoke, glows a little, and gives obscure prophecies in rhyme. And that’s just fine with her.

So she gets behind Cosette, who calmly peers into the darkness. Just in time for the monster – legs and chest of a man, head of a bull – to appear in their line of vision, his steps pounding against the stones, shaking the bones inside their bodies.

“The Minotaur,” observes Eponine. “How cliché.”

“We _are_ in his Labyrinth,” says Cosette, adjusting her grip on the knife. The Minotaur bellows at them and Eponine feels adrenaline and fear shoot through her, despite herself. If Cosette is scared, it only shows in the tense line of her shoulders. “I’ll take care of it, gimme a sec. Here I come, _big boy_!”

And there she goes – so fast that Eponine barely sees her take the first step. She is nothing but a blonde-and-orange blur, charging the giant Minotaur.

All demigods are fast, but they are nothing compared to Cosette – she can run circles around them all, and beat them out of sheer speed. When she runs across the beach, she kicks up so much sand that it is impossible to stand in her vicinity. They say it comes from her mother, who is so fast she can be at the opposite corner of the globe in the blink of an eye – she is, after all, a messenger of the gods.

Cosette runs around the Minotaur’s legs, striking it snake-fast and making it stumble. She slows only so much that that Eponine can see the vicious grimace that twists her face and the cloud of hair that has slipped from the tie. She reminds Eponine of Achilles – blond, fast and terrible.

It isn’t a coincidence if they call her _swift-footed Cosette_.

Katoptris, the knife – and also the harbinger of the news of Marius and Combeferre being captured – flashes in Cosette’s hand, and she uses it to reflect the light to the monster’s face. Blinded, it lets out another earth-shattering roar and lashes out. Of course, Cosette is much too fast to be caught, but half a column gets destroyed in the monster’s wrath.

More dust, debris and cobwebs in Eponine’s hair. But it’s the cracks from which they’re falling that really concern her. “Cosette, hurry it up, the ceiling with collapse!”

“On it!” Cosette shouts back, and leaps on the Minotaur’s back. He tries to shake her off to no avail, even though it gives Cosette pause, as she tries to hold on with her legs to raise her knife above her head. She grabs the beast’s curved horns, grips them tight when they both crash into a wall and rubble falls all around them. Then Cosette finds the proper momentum to raise the knife, rainbow-tattoo flashing, and stab the Minotaur right between the eyes. Repeatedly.

When the monster turns to dust, Cosette is unfortunately high up, and skins her knee tumbling to the ground. She stands, and Eponine runs to her aid, thermos of nectar already in hand.

When she gets near enough, she sees that one of the Minotaur’s horns has broken off and that Cosette is still gripping it hard, her breath labored.

The hard, battle-worn look is still on her face, through layers of messy blond hair and dust, and Eponine is almost wary of approaching her. Then Cosette looks down, cradles the horn in both her hands and her eyes widen.

In a flash, the vicious look is gone and an elated grin breaks out on her face. “ _I have a spoil of war!_ ” she rasps, absolutely giddy, and _giggles_.

So much for a swift-footed, terrible Achilles.

Eponine exhales and shakes her head, smiling too. “Congratulations, princess. Now get some nectar in your system, before you bleed to death?”

There’s a gash on Cosette’s forehead that is bleeding copiously, plus several cuts and bruises along her arms and her skinned knee. Cosette grabs the tumbler and drinks from it, with a grateful hum to Eponine.

“What would I do without you?” she gasps, when she’s done.

“Well, maybe actually bleed to death,” Eponine answers, pensively. “Get lost in the maze? Not sure. Anyway, I’d have been crushed by Bull Boy without you, so I’d say we’re even,” she concludes. Then, she grabs Cosette’s arm and drags her along, following the shining thread, once again visible through the rubble. “Now come on, I don’t want Goldilocks to beat us to the boys, okay?”

It was Cosette who had the great idea to message Enjolras, because she could (of course, she has endless access to Iris messages) and because she figured that if they got lost in the maze, someone else was going to save Marius and Combeferre. Not to mention the fact that Enjolras had been already out the door in hearing that his best friend was in danger.

“Did I mention I _might_ sort of, maybe have messaged Grantaire, too?” says Cosette, an impish smile on her face. Eponine cocks an eyebrow at her, then smiles back.

“Oh, Rapunzel, I love it when you stir up trouble,” she says, which makes Cosette laugh.

The path still shimmers bright and clear for Eponine.

They follow it into the darkness.

**Author's Note:**

> Notes on Cosette's mother and background:  
> -Iris is the goddess of the rainbow and a medium between gods (heaven) and mortals, which seemed oddly appropriate if you think of Fantine being (in the 2012 film especially, not to mention in fic) a link with God, coming to carry Valjean off at the end.  
> -I still have to ponder how Fantine being Iris, Tholomyés, the Thénardiers and Valjean figure in all of this, but you'll be soon updated.
> 
> As usual, [my personal](http://seagreeneyes.tumblr.com) if you want to come yell at me, and the [writing blog](http://prouvairing.tumblr.com) where the fic lives <3


End file.
